


Heroes of life, every one of us

by hugmeplease



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Child Soldiers, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Ed goes to UA, Edward Elric Keeps Alchemy, Edward Elric Swears, English isn't my native language, Gen, How Do I Tag, I messed with the fma timeline a bit, My First Work in This Fandom, Not telling you which ones tho, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parental Roy Mustang, Politics, Post-Promised Day, Quirk Discrimination (My Hero Academia), Rated T for language, Some Characters Live, Undercover Missions, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23790985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hugmeplease/pseuds/hugmeplease
Summary: After the Promised Day messes things up a little, Fuhrer Grumman and his new government decide to reach out to the United Nations in order to establish relations with other countries and leave Amestris' bloody past behind. Unfortunately, the UN refuses to work with a country that has a well known child soldier, who has not even finished school, working for them. At the same time, some Heroes in Japan realize, that the noumus could be somehow linked to chimeras, products of cruel alchemy.With a move that kills all the birds with one stone, Amestris sends their child soldier to school, Japan gets a State Alchemist to help with the noumus, and UA class 1-A gets a transfer student.
Comments: 215
Kudos: 1177
Collections: Mixed_Fics





	1. Changes

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The (Quirkless) Alchemist](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14193621) by [alice_cavallary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alice_cavallary/pseuds/alice_cavallary). 



> English is not my first language, so if the fic has any mistakes, please correct me.  
> Title comes from J.Karjalainen's song Sankarit (heroes).

Major Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, was once again in a bad mood. Honestly, the soldiers working in Central Command should be used to this. The short-tempered boy was a daily sight at this point, always helping with the repair works or doing some other important State Alchemist things. Even random rage spurts and impossibly loud yelling matches with Brigadier General Mustang were not uncommon.

And now the 15-year-old boy was slamming doors and speed walking form room to room in a way that usually was proceeded by a lot of screaming. In moments like this, Sergeant Vickers from the Quirk registry had learned, the smart thing to do was to act like nothing was out of the ordinary and focus on your work.

So, Sergeant Vickers continued to organize papers in her makeshift ‘office’, or as normal people would call it, a desk in one of the few hallways that hadn’t been blown up in their nice little coup d’état. Because the repairs were still nowhere near done, the hallway was now home to a lot of offices in Central command. And because nobody cared about the Quirk registry, Vickers and her one co-worker had a desk, a bookshelf and a thousand boxes of papers that they had been able to save from the ruins of their office. 

It wasn’t so bad. Sure, the pay could be better, but this wing had good air conditioning, since everyone had been crammed into the same space, and when their office finally opened again it would be new and functioning. Sure, she worked in the office nobody cared about, but that meant that her days would be peaceful, and she didn’t need to worry about stuff like alchemists and coup d’états and people allegedly challenging God to a fight and winning against his army of immortals and…

The Fullmetal Alchemist, returning with his uneven, heavy and angry steps, stopped in front of her desk.

“Is this the Quirk registry?” 

Vickers blinked, cleared her throat and answered: “Yes, sir. May I help you somehow?”

“I want the information of every quirk user in Central City.”

“Pardon?”

“I want the information of everyone in Central with a quirk”, Major Elric repeated.

“Sir, we haven’t been able to organize all the information after the coup. It would take months to gather all the information." Internally, she prepared to be yelled at.

To her surprise, all the Alchemist did was curse under his breath, run his fingers through his hair and say: 

“Okay, fine, what about everyone who works at Central command?”

“That should be possible. Please wait a moment, sir”, she said as she examined her mess of a bookshelf. 

In the end, Major Elric left with three out of the six files Vickers knew she should have, and two names Vickers thought she remembered correctly.  
-  
Ed was going to punch someone. 

Maybe one of those United Nations fuckers, who refused to form any kind of contracts if ‘Amestris clearly doesn’t follow our established human rights’ and ‘your law allows situations like this to happen’. Maybe the fucking door guard, who asked for his id every single time he came to the only wing that wasn’t under construction, even though he had passed the guard seven times today while going from the Fuhrers office to the archive to Mustangs temporary office. Maybe the nurse who kept talking to him like he was nine every time went to the hospital to be with Al.

Most likely First Lieutenant Sakkijarvi, who had decided to demonstrate his quirk inside the office, making all the radios in the building stop for five minutes. Why did they hire a man who could stop radios with his singing to be a tech expert?

Why did a man who was able to stop radios by singing exist? 

And according to literally everyone he had talked to, being able to emit radio waves when singing that bothered the signals wasn’t even the craziest quirk in Amestris, let alone the outside world. Ed was starting to feel like he didn’t want to leave the country after all.

But ‘we will never get international trade if we have an uneducated child soldier’, so he must make some sacrifices. If the meetings with the UN went badly Mustang would lose all hope, drink himself to death and then Ed would have to drag him up from hell in order to have an outlet that can take his screaming.

And at least he was going abroad, to a hero school. If he was going to a normal Amestrian high school, he would be the one losing all hope.

He walked outside, stopped to pet Corporal Breadbasket (Corporal Breadbasket had started to wag his tail every time Ed walked by. It would be a crime not to pet him) and headed to the Fuhrers wing. (It was the second part of the main building that had been rebuilt, right after the mess hall). When passing the outer office, he greeted Captain Hawkeye quickly, and went inside.

And so here he was, sitting in Grumman’s office, watching as the Fuhrer slowly but surely beat a nearly blind man in a chess match. After Mustang lost his king, Grumman turned his eyes on Ed.

“Fullmetal.”

“Sir.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Stop that. You’re not a soldier anymore.”

“I haven’t signed the papers yet, sir.”

Grumman smiled a little and took out a few papers.

“After you sign these, you will not be considered an official member of the military anymore, until you turn eighteen. That also means we will have to freeze your State Alchemist funding. Are you prepared for that?”

Ed looked at Mustang, who gave him a slightly unfocused look back. 

“I think I’ll manage, sir.”

“Very well”, Grumman said, offering the paper to Ed. “Sign your name.”

Ed did. 

“I trust you understand the weight of this mission.”

“I do, sir.”  
-  
And so, after saying goodbyes to all the soldiers he sometimes talked to, (Mustang’s team, Armstrong’s team, Warrant Officer Katyusha, who had a gun built on her automail hand, that nice cook whose name Ed couldn’t remember and it was too late to ask now, and Corporals Bread Basket and Cocktail), Ed left the Central Headquarters for the last time in three years.

Mustang and Hawkeye had bought a house in central. It had been very cheap after it had been blown up a little during the coup. After three alchemists had repaired it, it was fairly nice. The yard is still a mess, but when Ed had suggested transmuting it to be nicer Hawkeye had looked at him like he was a stain on her old, faithful m/39 and said “If any of you alchemize anything in my garden I’m going to throw you out faster than you can clap your hands.”

That really should not have been a surprise. The second Hawkeye and Mustang realized, that since they are technically not a superior officer and a direct subordinate anymore, they could actually have a romantic relationship, things were bound to change a bit. But a few months ago, when Al was still at the hospital and Ed had to live in central for an unknown period of time, opening the door with his own key only to find Brigadier General Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, Hero of Ishival, Man Who Did Stuff During The Coup But There Is No Name For That Yet, watering the plants Captain Riza Hawkeye, The Hawk’s Eye, the Fuhrer’s bodyguard, had planted on the windowsill, had caused Ed to rethink everything about his life. 

Edward opened the door, put his shoes away, walked to the kitchen and proceeded to die from happiness on the inside, because never in his life would he get used to seeing this.

Alphonse was stirring something on the stove, while Mustang was trying to look over his shoulder. When they noticed Ed coming in, Mustang simply waved his hand, but Alphonse – sweet, dear, still too thin but so much healthier than he used to be – dropped the spatula he had been using and proceeded to push Ed away from the kitchen, claiming that he can’t see what they’re doing, it’s a surprise.

And so now Ed was sitting on the floor, leaning on the kitchen door, Black Hayate on his lap.

The front door opened and Hayate rushed to greet his master. Hawkeye bowed down to pet him a little and then looked at the boy laying on the floor.

“Did you pack your bags?”

“Yeah”, Ed muttered. “Al and Mustang banned me from the kitchen.”

“Sucks to be you. Are you excited?”

Ed was quiet for a moment.

“Maybe?”

“You know we’ll miss you, right?” she said, crouching on the floor next to him.

“Yeah”, Ed said, “I know. And I’ll come back whenever the school has a vacation.”

“You’d better keep that promise.” Hawkeye patted his head a few times.

In the end, the celebration dinner Mustang and Al had tried to make burned, so they went to get Xingese takeout instead. 

And as Ed laid awake in the guest room, unable to close his eyes, Al fast asleep next to him, thinking about a million ways things could go tomorrow, a thought crossed his head.

Life was good right now. Sure, Central was a mess, Al was still too thin and sick to travel with him and he didn’t have a job anymore, but it was still good.

And maybe tomorrow would be even better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm not a native English speaker. I hope it's good.
> 
> I changed some things about canon, most important things being (other than the characters living in the same world) that Amestris has people with quirks, but it's very rare, Ed keeps his alchemy, and everything in FMA canon after Ed joins the military happens a year earlier. So Ed is 15 during the Promised Day.
> 
> In FMA, all the soldiers are named after actual weapons or military vehicles, so I did the same with my oc:s.
> 
> Sergeant Vickers: The Vickers 6-Ton tank, used by many different armies, for example the Finnish army in ww2.  
> First Lieutenant Sakkijarvi: The Säkkijärvi Polk, a Finnish folk song used to stop the Soviet Union from activating their radio-controlled bombs.  
> Military Dogs Breadbasket and Cocktail: The Molotov Breadbasket, a Soviet bomb dispencer that the Soviet Union claimed to be food for poor Finns, and The Molotov Cocktail, a nice drink to go with the food.
> 
> Most of them probably won't be important later, but I put a lot of work into those names.


	2. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being in house arrest was not how Izuku had excepted the first day of the semester to go.   
> At least it was just three days. He couldn’t possibly miss that much in that time. Except...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long! Don't worry, I'm not abandoning this fic! I have the plot planned out and everything, but since I'm writing in English it's slow. Online school was Not Fun, but now my country reopened schools and I'm on summer vacation, so I should get my life in control again.
> 
> Enjoy!

Being in house arrest was not how Izuku had excepted the first day of the semester to go.   
At least it was just three days. He couldn’t possibly miss that much in that time. Except…

“I didn’t know UA accepted transfer students.”

“Right? And why now, we’ve already been through one term?”

“I heard they’re not Japanese, so for them this would be the start of the school year.”

“I wonder what kind of quirk they have!”

Izuku had already missed so much!

“Yo, what’s this about a transfer student”, Bakugo asked Kirishima.

“Sorry, not allowed to tell you!”

House arrest officially sucked.

During the second day, a few boxes were brought to the empty room next to Bakugo’s.

Evening of that day, Aizawa told the whole class to gather to the common rooms. They sat in the common room, chattering about why Aizawa gathered them. Maybe it was the transfer student?

All talking stopped when Aizawa came in with the new kid.

Their new classmate was a short white boy. He had strikingly golden hair and eyes (maybe that had something to do with his quirk?) and was wearing black leather clothes. Other than that, his appearance was quite plain. 

“Welcome to the dorm building. Your stuff has been brought to your room. Iida, show the new kid around”, Aizawa said, and walked out from the building.

The boy looked at where Aizawa had left confused, and then turned to the other students.

For a moment, nobody said anything. The boy looked around the room, golden eyes brushing over every student in the room. Then Iida rushed to greet him.

“Hello there! My name is Iida Tenya, and I’m the representative of class 1-A! Pleased to make your acquaintance!”

“Um… nice to meet you?” the boy said. “I am Edward Elric.”

“That’s a western name, right? That’s so cool!” said Ashido, getting very close to him. “Where are you from? You don’t look Japanese, and you have an accent, and…”

He stepped backwards a bit. “Yes, I am not Japanese, I…”

“Then is Elric your family name?” Kaminari piped in.

“What’s your quirk?” 

“Why did you come to the school now that one term has already passed?”

“Could you slow down one second!” Elric yelled. The class fell silent.

The look in his eyes was somewhere between intense and anxious as he took a deep breath, exhaled and then said: “Sorry. Japanese is not my first language, I am still learning. I would like it if you do not all talk at same time.”

“Oh, right, that’s probably hard”, Uraraka muttered. The others seemed to understand the situation and calmed down.

“So, where are you from?” Ashido asked again.

“Amestris.”

Suddenly class 1-A was speechless. 

“Wait”, Kaminari broke the silence, “Really? You’re from Amestris?”

“Yes”, Elric said calmly. “Is there a problem?”

“Well”, Kaminari started, but Yaoyrozu cut him off.

“No, of course not! It’s just a bit surprising. I personally don’t think I’ve ever met anyone from Amestris before.”

“Can I ask why you’re in Japan, then?” Asui croaked. Elric looked at her for a moment too long before answering.

“There are little opportunities to study interesting things in Amestris, so I wanted to go abroad to study. I think to be a hero is interesting.”

There was a moment of awkward silence again, and Izuku decided to take the opportunity to ask his question.

“What’s your quirk?”

Elric blinked at him. “What?”

“Um, it’s sort of a hobby of mine to analyse people’s quirks and so I was wondering… and if you got accepted to UA even though it’s been months since the year started, you must have an awesome quirk, and I’ve heard that many people in Amestris don’t even have quirks so it’s probably even more interesting and…”

Elric looked at him, silently, and it occurred to Izuku that maybe his rambling was a bit too hard for someone who was still learning Japanese.

Izuku was almost apologizing for talking so quickly, but then Elric opened his mouth again.

“I do not have one.”

“Wh- what?” stammered Hagakure.

“You’re _quirkless?_ ” Izuku’s heart skipped a beat.

“I do not know the word, but I do not have quirk, if that is what you ask.”

“The fuck are you doing here, then?” Bakugo asked.

Elric looked a bit confused again. “I am here to learn to be a hero. Is something wrong?”

Bakugo looked like he was about to start yelling, but Uraraka cut him off. 

“I don’t think there’s ever been a quirkless hero”, she said.

“Yeah”, Kirishima said, “quirks are kind of the thing that make Heroes who they are.”

“I do not really understand how Japan works, but that sounds very weird”, Elric said. Something in his expression made Izuku a bit anxious. 

“It’s a dangerous profession!” Iida proclaimed. “Heroes need their quirks to do their jobs!”

“And before you say anything about guns and shit”, Bakugo said, unfortunately, “if you wanna use that argument, just join the police and leave heroics to those of us who can actually do it.”

_Damn it, Kacchan!_

A little bit of silence followed that, and before Iida could start ranting about Bakugo’s lack of manners, Elric chuckled.

“So is that how it is?” he asked with a smile.

Before anyone could answer him, Elric continued. “I think I see what you mean. However, I tell you”, -his smile was getting almost creepy now- “I will not need quirk to fight.”

Looking into Elric’s golden eyes, Izuku almost believed him.

But… how? All Might himself said that it’s impossible to be a hero without a quirk, how would Elric be able to…

“The fuck you mean by that?” Bakugo asked. Yep, Elric looked creepy, there was something powerful in his eyes. 

“You have hero training as class, right? I think I will leave my skills surprise for that.” He dropped his smile and looked around. “Now, who are all of you?”

After they had all introduced themselves to Elric, Iida snatched him away on a tour of the building. The rest of the class stayed in the living room area.

“So, what do you guys think?” Kirishima asked.

“Who the fuck does that shithead think he is?” Bakugo scoffed. “A quirkless foreigner just walks in here and claims that he’s gonna be a Hero. The fucking balls on that guy.”

“Well, maybe he knows martial arts or something?” Uraraka suggested.

“Still not gonna do shit against a guy with a decent quirk”, Bakugo said.

“His Japanese is quite good for a foreigner”, Yaoyrozu said.

“And he’s kinda hot, don’t you think?” Ashido added.

“So he’s an egoistical asshole who let his good looks get into his head. I’m going to fucking beat his ass”, Bakugo said.

“You’re one to talk!”

Izuku tuned out the conversation as he sunk into his thoughts. Elric did seem confident, but was that just a façade? It could be a way to mask his nervousness. But the look in his eyes was just… strong. Whether or not Elric’s confidence was justified, there was something in him that made Izuku feel uneasy.

Izuku would just have to wait and see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ed is officially at UA!  
> I tried to make it clear that he's not speaking his native language. I imagine Ed would be same kind of learner as I am; nearly perfect grammar, but not so perfect vocabulary. As you can see, he speaks really carefully ("do not" instead of "don't"), uses simple sentences, repeats the same phrases a lot and leaves out small words like prepositions.
> 
> I don't have much else to say. I spent so much time googling if "you're one to talk" means what I think that now _talk_ doesn't feel like a word. Microsoft Word wants to censor the cursing in this. Writing in English is hard.
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter!


	3. Testing the waters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed doesn't know what to think of UA. 
> 
> His classmates don't know what to think of Ed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting on Sunday 8pm counts as posting this week. I made it to my goal.

Fuck Japan. 

Seriously. 

What the fuck. 

Ed had just met his classmates and he wanted to go home already. 

One of his new classmates had a bird’s head, one could grow new arms, one was invisible. Each quirk was crazier than the other. Truth, this mission was going to be awful. 

“And this will be your room!” Iida, the class president, stopped in front of a door in the 4th floor. Ed pushed the door open and stepped inside. 

His luggage was in a few cardboard boxes in the middle of the floor. There was a bed, an empty bookshelf and a desk he did not recognize. 

“Thank you”, he said to Iida. 

“No problem!” Iida yelled back, waving his arm around. “If you need anything, please come ask me or Yaoyrozu! We’ll be glad to help.” 

Before he could leave, Ed asked: “Actually, could you answer few questions?” 

Iida seemed... polite. Energetic. Proper. Like what Ed imagined Major Armstrong to be as a teenager. He would probably be a good source of information. 

“Of course!” he answered. “What do you want to ask?” 

Ed didn’t know the Japanese words for stereotyping or prejudice, so he setteled for a simpler sentence. 

“Do people here... not like Amestris?” He needed to find his dictionary. 

Thankfully Iida seemed to understand. 

“There isn’t really much information on Amestris anywhere, so people form their opinions based on rumors. Unfortunately most of those rumors... don’t really paint Amestris in a good light.” 

Well, yeah, can’t really blame people for that. Amestris was kind of a hot mess. 

“But”, Iida continued, “now that you’re here, and Amestris is opening borders, we have a chance to learn more information, based on facts!” 

It was sweet, he thought, that Iida seemed to think Ed was free to just share information. 

“Well, if you have questions for me... I’ll be glad to help?” Ed said, repeating the strange phrase Iida had used earlier. 

Iida smiled politely. “Well then, I do have a question, and I thought it would be better to ask in private.” 

Ed looked at him expectantly. 

“How, excatly, did you come here?” 

The fuck was that supposed to mean? Was there something in that phrase he didn’t understand? 

“With a plane”, Ed answered. 

Iida looked taken aback. “No, I meant… As far as I’m aware, Amestris doesn’t allow normal citizens to travel abroad. My main concern is... are you here legally?” 

Suddenly Ed felt a lot more insecure about his language abilities. Did this guy think he was an illegal alien? 

“Our new...” president? Fuhrer? Government? “... leader, wants to change... things”, Ed said. “so I have permission to be here.” 

Iida didn’t exactly relax after hearing that, but he did politely wish Ed goodnight and let him sleep off the jet lag. 

The morning started out great. He slept a bit too late (stupid time zones), skipped breakfast and spent a few minutes staring in the mirror because Truth the school uniform made him look stupid. 

When he tried to leave the dorms to go to class, green hair kid (Mi-something?) suddenly appeared next to him. 

“Good morning, Elric-kun!” 

“Good morning”, he said back. 

“I, um, could I say something real quick?” Green Hair continued without waiting for an answer. “I’m sorry about yesterday, I shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that”, what the hell was he talking about “…and I know that there are a lot of quirkless people in amestris but I just… assumed that since you’re here you would… and I shouldn’t have done that but-“ 

“Hey”, Ed cut him off, “please slow down.” 

Green Hair winced at that for some reason. “Oh, am I talking too fast again? Sorry about that, I just…” 

“It is nothing. Now could we go to class?” 

Green Hair looked a bit awkward and explained that he was still in house arrest. Well, at least he couldn’t bother Ed now. 

By lunch Ed had found out that Green Hair was named Midoriya, he and Iida were friends and school was exactly as boring as it had been when he was nine. 

And people really didn’t seem to know what to think of amestrians. He could feel people staring at him the whole day. 

There were a few who had behaved like Ed was a normal human. Like Todoroki, who was sitting next to him in class, or Ashido, who had sat next to him at lunch and asked if he had any siblings, and then proceeded to talk a lot about nothing after Ed had told her he had a brother. 

The last class was at least something Ed was looking forward to. Hero training. An opportunity to show off his skills. 

“We didn’t have a chance to do it at the end of the summer camp, so lets do your physical tests now”, Aizawa told the class, after they had changed their gym clothes and gathered outside. (Thank Truth Ed had been allowed to change in a private room.) 

Ed could do physical activities. His teacher had made sure of that. Running, jumping, grip strength? He’d had to do all of that, fighting immortal nightmare monsters. He was better than awerage, despite the missing leg. 

But this time they had to use their quirks. 

What was Ed going to do? Alchemy didn’t make him a fast runner, it helped him not to run from situations. It was all about working smart, not hard. Transmutating his automail was a bad idea he should not be thinking about. 

As the tests went on, Ed realized, that his better than average skills really didn’t matter all that much when competing against people with extra limbs. 

“No, you go before me, I want to go last!” Uraraka exclaimed as she let Ed pass before her in line. 

“Uraraka, we all know your quirk. Flexing it now is just rubbing salt on wounds”, Ojiro muttered. 

“But Elric hasn’t seen it yet! I wanna surprise him!” 

Ed wondered about the girl’s quirk as he stood in line and waited for his turn. He hadn’t noticed her using her quirk earlier, and so had absolutely no idea what it could be. 

Well, it probably wouldn’t be too crazy, compared to some of these quirks. Funnily enough not that many people seemed to have quirks that would benefit them in this situation, like the invisible girl, so it didn’t really make much sense to test physical capalities if their quirks _weren’t physical_ , but... what the absolute fuck was she doing. 

The girl (Yao... Yaoyrozu!) did... something, to... create a miniature cannon from her body. She put the ball in and launched it. It went quite far. 

Ed couldn’t bring himself to focuse on the other students after Yayorozu stepped out from the line. How? What? Why was that POSSIBLE? 

“Elric, your turn”, Aizawa called. 

Ed stepped forward, took the ball and made the necessary calculations in his head. 

“This throw does not count.” 

Ed tossed the ball in the air, clapped his hands and caught it. A heavier ball with a more aerodynamic build would fly further, and if Yaoyrozu could make a fucking cannon he could transmutate his ball. 

Not bad. He stepped away from the throwing spot and let Uraraka try. 

Oh, what the fucking bullshit. 

“Infinity, again.” 

Ed felt sick. Before he had a chance to even comprehend what just happened, Uraraka was already talking to him. 

“Hey, what was that thing you did? It looked like lightning but then something happened to the ball?” 

“Huh?” 

“I would also like an explanation on that”, Aizawa said. 

“It was alchemy”, Ed said. “I made the ball more heavy so it would fly more.” 

“you’re an alchemist?” Yaoyrozu looked at him in wonder. “really?” 

“um, stupid question, what’s alchemy?”, a blond boy muttered. 

“It’s an ancient science based on _some words Ed did not catch. He did look alchemic terms up when he was studying Japanese, so either he had been bad or this girl didn’t really know what she was talking about._ ” 

“You know alchemy?” Ed asked her. 

She shook her head. “No, not really, I just read a lot about it since my quirk works in a similar way. But I couldn’t get it to work. You’re actually an alchemist?” 

“Yes.” 

The girl looked really impressed, while most of the students were just confused. 

Yaoyrozu’s quirk was still making alarm bells ring in his head, but at least one of these students seemed to be smart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I know some of you were excepting action scenes, but nope! This is starting out slower than most crossovers do!
> 
> Weird English things I noticed while writing:  
> -Exceptantly is a nice word.  
> -Is there a verb for Yaoyrozu's quirk? No? Apparently not.  
> -typing the Finnish word for exclaim into google translate and getting _ejaculate_ as a result is fun.


	4. What would this mean?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midoriya learns that Elric is an alchemist.  
> The public learns about a child soldier.  
> Someone knows more than others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took less time with this chapter than I probably should have, but I wanted to publish this before I start at a new school tomorrow. Writing fanfiction is a good way to distract yourself from stress.
> 
> Enjoy!

“...so, I can create pretty much anything, as long as I understand the chemical composition.” 

Izuku heard Yaoyrozu’s voice from the main entrance of their building. School must have ended now, he thought. 

“But how do you... how do you just... create? From nothing?” 

Yaoyorozu and Elric came to the living room, where Izuku was reading a book. He and Bakugo had finished all their chores, and now Bakugo had disappeared to his room and left Izuku to deal with whatever mess their classmates would make when they arrived. 

“My quirk makes it so my body can change the composition of different materials. Isn’t that what you do, too?” 

“No, I mean... I do that, but,” Elric paused for a moment, possibly thinking about what he should say. “I can not do anything from nothing. We need something to change. If I have a stone, I can change that, but I can not create a stone. How do you... do that?” 

“Oh, I see! I kind of do that too. My quirk depends on how much I eat. The more I eat, the more I can create.” 

“So you change your food? That is amazing.” 

What were they talking about? Elric had said he was quirkless, right? Izuku still didn’t understand how that was possible. He’d gotten into UA as a transfer student. Izuku had to train for months to pass the regular exam, and even that had been incredibly difficult. 

Could it be that it was all for nothing? Was Elric proof that a quirkless person could actually be a hero? Izuku didn’t know what to think. He... he was happy if Elric could to that, right? Izuku looked up from his book at Elric, who had been dragged into a conversation with more people than just Yaoyrozu. 

How was that possible? Quirks were what made heroes who they were, but maybe it was different in Amestris? Most of their population was quirkless, right? Well, Izuku didn’t want to depend on stereotypes and conspiracy theories, but as far as he knew, that was the reason why they kept their borders shut, to protect the almost quirkless population. Maybe their heroes were quirkless. Did they even have heroes? Izuku was fairly sure he would have known if there were quirkless heroes in the world. (He knew everything there was to know about that one Swedish group, after all, but they were from the early era of heroism, so they didn’t really count, and that had been in Europe, too, but Amestris wasn’t really Europe, so...) 

A quirkless hero would be a good thing. Elric would prove Bakugo and everyone else who had doubted Izuku wrong. Elric could maybe do what Izuku... couldn’t. 

For some selfish reason, that made him feel bad. No, it was a good thing! Quirkless people were so discriminated against. Anything that could make things better for them was good, Izuku thought. It would be proof that everyone was wrong! 

It would be proof that All Might had been wrong. 

“Elric, hey, do you have a license?” Kaminari’s voice snapped Izuku out of his thoughts. 

“What?” Elric asked. 

“A provisional licence,” Uraraka explained. “It allows heroes to use their quirks without getting into legal trouble.” 

“I don’t have a quirk,” Elric said. “Do I need a licence?” 

“Legally speaking, maybe not? You are quirkless after all”, Iida said. 

“But he’s a foreigner”, Todoroki butted into the conversation. “The law is strict with them. And with his abilities...” 

“What abilities?” Izuku asked before he could stop himself. He just had to know! 

“I am an alchemist,” Elric said. 

“Wait, seriously? Isn’t that like, super hard to learn?” That was a possibility Izuku hadn’t even considered. Didn’t Amestris have something to do with alchemy? 

Elric smiled at that. “I am a good student.” 

So, he was smarter than he looked. Not that he didn’t look smart, but Izuku had tried to look into alchemy when he was thirteen, and he hadn’t understood anything he had learned. 

“Can you fight with it?” Sero asked. 

“Yes. It’s, um,” he waved his hands around a bit, “stone and... ground? Is that the word? They are easy to move, so I can fight with it.” 

Alchemy was an ancient science that could only be learned by true geniuses. It was a careful art where every detail mattered, the library books Izuku had buried himself into had said. When he imagined an alchemist, he imagined an old man surrounded by books who drew incomprehensible symbols to paper and used them to understand how the world was. For Elric to call something related to alchemy easy was either him exaggerating his skills or him being truly impressive. 

“So, is it more defensive, if you use stone walls and stuff?” Kirishima asked. 

“Maybe? It’s... It can be a lot different things.” 

That seemed like an understatement. 

The conversation had died down, Izuku had taken the trash out, and now most of the class was hanging around in the living room, eating Sato’s muffins. 

“Hey, can someone turn Hero News on? It should have started already”, said Hagakure, coming into the living room. Kaminari took the remote and turned the TV on. 

_“... Amestrian military activity in Japan. We’re currently in contact with our correspondent from the Russian-Amestrian border.”_

“Hey, Elric, your country’s in the news!” 

_“Good evening.”_

_“So what excatly is going on?”_

_“Six months ago, the Amestrian government was overthrown by a union of soldiers. No motivation for the Revolution has been confirmed, but allegedly the President of Amestris perished during it. The new President Grumman has made a public, international announcement that his primary goal is to get Amestris to follow the United Nations’ declaration of human rights.”_

“Amestris doesn’t do that already?” Kaminari piped up. 

_“One of the first actions he’d have to take is addressing the very infamous child soldier allegedly employed in the Military. No confirmation for this has been made, but there is footage of an Amestrian military plane arriving in Japan.”_

_Two pictures appeared on the screen. Other was an old-looking small plane, with a green insignia on it. The other showed three people inside the airport. It was blurry and taken from across the room, but one could still notice a white man in a blue uniform, a kid in a red coat with striking gold hair, and Aizawa-sensei.”_

_“After an independent photographer sent the picture on screen to Hero News, rumours started circulating that the boy in the picture would be Edward Elric, who as far as we know is the only underage person to be employed in the Amestrian Military.”_

All eyes turned to Elric, who was leaning on one of the couches. 

_“All of this information is alleged, and we have no concrete way of confirming it yet...”_

“Hey, Elric...” 

“What the fuck?” Bakugo demanded, and the noise level exploded. 

Everyone had something to say. Yelling, questions, pieces of sentenced Izuku could barely make out, multiple “is that true”s and “are you really...”s, Koda trying to calm the situation down... 

Izuku was just about to do something about the situation, but then Iida put a hand down on his shoulder. 

“Don’t, Midoriya,” he said. 

“Slow down,” Elric was trying to get his voice heard. “I don’t understand,” 

Unfortunately nobody was listening to him. The chaos would probably have gotten worse, but then the front door flew out and silence fell. 

“Elric, come with me,”Aizawa demanded. 

Elric’s shoulders stiffened as he turned to look at Aizawa. Aizawa waved his hand as a sign for Elric to follow, and he did so. 

This was not a good day for Shota. He led the boy into an empty office in the main building. Elric sat down on a chair, avoiding eye contact. 

“Let’s have a talk, Elric,” Shota said. “what the hell was- “His phone rang. Shota took one look at the caller’s name and sighed. “Give me a moment,” he said and walked out of the room. 

“Hello?” 

“Sup, Eraserhead!” The way too chipper voice greeted him. “Why the hell do you have a _staatalkeemist_ with you?” 

“A what?” 

“Alchemist of the state. The ace that Amestris always pulls out form their sleeves. A literal human weapon.” 

“Is he, now? I can’t really confirm anything the media is saying yet.” 

“But is he with you? Is he at UA?” 

“He arrived yesterday. I have him waiting for me in my office right now. Was just about to ask him about what the media says when you called.” 

“Media’s right on this one, y’know. I recognize him. The youngest to ever become an Alchemist of the state.” 

“I was not aware of that.” 

“Yep. They know him as _Fullmetal_.” 

“English. Interesting.” 

“Listen, Eraser, why is he there? How is this possible? Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“I didn’t really have a say in this. The Comission just informed me that they wanted to recommend the boy as a transfer student. Nezu and I held a test for him, and he passed. Not much I can do about it.” 

“That sounds suspiciuous as fuck. Eraser, something’s going on. An Amestrian weapon in the best hero school in the world? There’s a lot going on behind the scenes.” 

“I agree. We should meet face to face. Somewhere where nobody can listen.” 

“Okay, okay. That’s fine. I’ll contact you later. Keep an eye on Fullmetal.” 

“I’ll confirm the rumours with him. See you later.” 

An Alchemist of the state. This could be problematic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few things about my worldbuilding I would like to talk about, so: where is Amestris and what language do they speak?  
> A lot of fics make Amestris an European country where they speak Germany and all is good. But there is the problem that Europe is pretty tiny. If Amestris was in Europe, I would have to erase multiple countries to fit it in. There's also the issue of what countries does Amestris border?  
> Drachma is based on Russia, so real life Amestris has to be south from Russia. Xing is China, but there is a desert in between, so we can't go too close to China.  
> So when I imagine where Amestris would go, I imagine it to be in that part of Russia right between Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The climate matches well enough, and placing Amestris there won't erase entire countries. It is also where the border between Asia and Europe goes, so in my imagination, Amestris is, alongside Turkey and Russia, part Europe and part Asia. 
> 
> Now, what language are they speaking? In real life, that area speaks Russian and minor Turkic languages. I speak neither Russian nor Turkic languages. The most popular language to use is German or an imaginary Germanic language, but that would make very little sense geographically.  
> But guess what could make sense? Amestrian could be an Uralic language. Looking at a map of Uralic languages, it's not too far fetched to imagine. (Ishivalan could be turkic, if I decide to add that.)  
> There is also the added bonus that my native language is Uralic, so I could make it work. Lets take a look at the one word I made up for this chapter: _staatalkeemist_. I took all the Uralic languages google translate had to offer (Hungarian, Estonian and Finnish), put the words "state" and "alchemist" in, and tried to see if there was any overlap.  
> Alchemist is the same in most languages, so I changed the spelling a bit and went with it. State, however, is different, so for that I just took the Russian word and messed witht the spelling, since most Uralic languages have a lot of Russian influence.
> 
> I don't really speak Uralic languages other than Finnish, so if anyone reading this speaks any other Uralic languages (especially the minor ones) please comment something! I would love to have a second opinion.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	5. Authority figures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed gets in trouble with the local law enforcement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while! Honestly, I'm not happy with this chapter, but exam week is starting and I need to get this out of my system so I don't procrastinate too much. Enjoy the chapter!

Ed was fucked. 

Aizawa was still outside the room, talking on his phone (and how crazy was that, everyone here had personal phones with them? _Everyone_ here could afford a personal cellphone?). Ed sat still on a chair in the office, looking at the room around him. It was probably an office, but there was no desk or mountains of paperwork, just a low table with chairs around it. The whole room had an unusual feeling. Like it was normal that there was a room in an important place (and UA was important, that he knew for sure) that was not used at all. The room wasn’t even dusty, it had clearly been cleaned. So either this school had staff to clean big, unused rooms, or this room was used more than it looked like. There was no familiar marks of used meeting spaces. No mug stains on the table, no weird stains on the chairs, no marks on the floor that dragging chairs around left. Everything was clinically clean and white. 

Usually Ed was fine with clean and white spaces. Hospitals and church halls and military commands were all clean and light. But they had life in them. This place was too big, too empty, too clean, too- 

The door opened and Aizawa walked in. He sat across from Ed after making sure the door and the curtain covering the window were shut. 

“So, Elric,” he began, “would you like to explain whatever that was?” 

“No?“ 

Aizawa’s stare was very intimidating. It was probably a good skill to have, but unfortunately it made it difficult for Ed to remember anything Mustang had taught him about interrogations. _Don’t give more information than you have to_ , his voice rang in Ed’s head. 

“How much do you know?” Ed asked. Great, that wasn’t obvious at all. 

“Not much, to be honest. In fact, I called a friend here to help me with this. Would you like some tea? 

They drank their tea in silence, until someone knocked on the door. 

It was a plain looking man, maybe in his thirties. 

“My name is Tsukauchi Naomasa. I’m a Detective in the police force,” he introduced himself. And now Ed was in trouble with the local police even though Mustang _clearly_ told him not to get arrested this time, which was pointless, because everytime Ed had gotten arrested before had been for a good reason! Local law enforcements just loved getting into fights with him, and it really wasn’t Ed’s fault that sometimes the only solution was punching people with his automail fist. Except that now he didn’t have an automail fist anymore, so he would have to resort to kicking. 

“While this is not a legal interrogation, I should still tell you, that my quirk allows me to recognize lies,” the Police Guy sat down on a chair and hold on, his quirk what? What the fuck? 

“Recognize lies? What do you mean?” 

“If you lie, I will know that.” Well then, no lying his way out of this. Ed shifted in his seat as the atmosphere changed around him. 

“Are you a soldier?” Aizawa began. _Only lie with the truth_ , Mustangs voice rang in his head. 

“No. I am not.” 

“Truth”, Police Guy said. 

“Are you employed in the Amestrian military in some way?” 

“No.” Thank every higher power in the universe for Grumman’s brains. He owed the man an apology. 

“True”, Police Guy said. 

Aizawa seemed to consider something for a moment. 

“ _Were_ you a soldier?” 

“...No.” 

“Kind of a lie. It’s hard to tell.” 

“Let’s try this: at any point of your life, have you been known by the name _Fullmetal_?” 

Ed’s thoughts came to a halt. How did they know about that? He was incognito. Even if the Japanese knew he was in the Military, only a few people should have known about him being a state alchemist, and his teachers were not those people. Did someone here rat him out? Were they somehow able to read his mind or something? 

There could be a quirk like that. Police Guy was a lie detector, mind reading wasn’t really that far off. 

And they were still waiting for an answer. Fuck. 

There was no getting out of this one, not if the other guy knew when he was lying, so Ed simply said: “I do not have permission to tell you.” 

“By who’s orders?” 

“I can not tell you.” 

“Did the Amestrian government send you here?” 

Fuck. “My... I don’t know a word, um... person I live with? He sent me here.” 

“Yes or no, Elric” Aizawa glared at him. 

“I can not answer. I am not allowed.” 

Police guy nodded at Aizawa. There seemed to be a silent conversation between them. 

It made sense. Aizawa had called him a friend; they had probably worked together a lot. Ed understood the way old colleagues could communicate a lot of meaning without speaking a word, especially if they had worked in dangerous situations. Mustang and Hawkeye did that a lot. 

What Ed didn’t understand was why Aizawa turned his gaze at Ed again and said, slowly: “Elric, you’re underage. If someone in Amestris is making you stay quiet, please tell me. We’ll be able to help. Even if it’s someone important, we can invoke concern over children's rights or your personal safety. You just have to tell us.” 

“What are you talking?” 

“I know this is a hard situation on you, but we can help you. I can make sure the people who made you a military alchemist cannot control you anymore.” 

What the fuck. 

“I do not understand.” 

“Do you not understand the language or the issue?” 

“Both,” Ed said. “Why would I... What are you talking about?” 

“Someone is forcing you to be silent, right?” he waited for a moment for Ed to nod, and then continued. “Please tell me who it is. I will help you away from them.” 

“You would... work against your own people? 

That shut him up. 

“My own people?” 

“You’re a hero, or? You work with them. They your people.” 

“Who do you mean?” 

“Hero Public Safety Comission. Your superiors?” 

“Do you take orders from the HPSC?” 

That’s an acronym, he realized. Funny. The only fun thing about this situation, because his contact in the HPSC had clearly told Ed not to reveal his identity. 

Besides, Ed was already like 4 months late on this assignment. The Japanese official who had contacted Grumman had done it a week after Grumman’s position had been made official. Originally, he had been supposed to go to Japan when the school year started in April, not in fucking August. He couldn’t afford more hinderances. 

But maybe telling Aizawa wouldn’t be a hinderance. He was a hero, wasn’t he? And he was also his teacher, so maybe Ed could tell him. 

“Yes”, Ed answered. 

“He’s telling the truth”, Police Guy said. 

“That sure is interesting,” Aizawa said. “Tell me more, please.” 

Ed sighed. “This is all secret. Please do not tell others.” 

“We won’t.” 

“You know Amestris has new leaders?” Aizawa nodded. “Well, after Grumman became leader, someone from Japan call him, and asked for help. They say, there are, what is it... villains, and Heroes need help with them.” 

“Why did they contact Amestrian leaders? We have no history of working with Amestris.” 

“I heard, they use alchemy. The Japanese gave pictures and text, what was in the villains place. So Grumman say I have to help.” 

“Why you?” 

“The thing the villains use, not many know it. I am only alchemist of the country who knows it. So I have to come here, to see if it is a threat.” 

“I find it quite unbelievable that a sixteen-year-old would be the only alchemist who understands this specific thing.” 

“Not the only alchemist ever. I am the only who will help the military. There is others, but they will never help.” 

“Knowing that the only alchemist Amestris can send is sixteen is still not making me feel better about this.” 

Edward scoffed. “It is a hard thing to do. I did not want, really, but I... knew the notes. I saw that before. I knew I had to help.” 

“What exactly is it you’re helping with?” 

“The... says Nomu. I study something like that in Amestris.” 

“What, exactly?” 

“I do not know the word. Kimeeri?” 

“Chimera?” 

“Maybe.” 

Aizawa leaned back on his chair. 

“Well, that’s an info bomb.” 

“Why weren’t you told about this? It really seems like something a homeroom teacher should be aware of”, Police Guy wondered. 

“I can only assume that the HPSC has their reasons”, Aizawa said dryly. “I’ll have to contact them about this. In the meantime, Elric. I would like an explanation to everything the news just revealed to us. Don’t bother lying about it, I know for a fact that you are a _staatalkemist_ , although I’m not sure what that means excatly.” He pronounced the Amestrian word very poorly, but the message sunk in. Yep, moving incognito was a bust. 

Ed sighed. “ _Staatalkeemist_ is an alchemist who work for Amestrian military. We get books and money and... get to tell people what to do, for research, and we help the military if they need help.” 

“You said you didn’t work for the military.” 

“Yes. I could not come here, if do, so they took my title away. I get it back when I’m an adult.” 

“How did you get it in the first place? You’re a child.” 

“There was not age limit. It is difficult for an old man who has studied a lot, they did think a child could not pass the test.” 

“And you passed the test.” 

“Yes.” Ed let himself smile. “I am good in alchemy.” 

“Impressive. What does Amestris gain from this?” 

“Excuse me?” 

“Why help us? What good will that do for Amestris?” 

“We need to... tell other countries, it is okay to work with us now. We are going to be a better country. If we help you, others will see it, and think us as better.” 

Aizawa nodded. “That makes sense. I believe this will be enough for now. You’re free to go. Tsukauchi, could we talk privately?” 

Ed stood up hesitantly and walked out of the room, leaving his new teacher and a cop behind. 

The hallway was also clean, sterile looking, and way too empty. The only sound to be heard was a mechanic humming, probably air conditioning. It felt a lot more familiar than the room he had been in, though. Hallways were supposed to be empty, so one could slip out of the busy room and breathe for a moment, but for some reason walking down the UA hallways did not calm Ed down like the Central Command hallways did. 

As he was walking around looking for the entrance, Edward started hearing footsteps coming towards him. A rush of adrenaline shot through his veins. Everyone here had access to televisions and the internet. There was no way he wouldn’t get recognized. 

He walked around a corner and came to face a tall man carrying a stack of boxes. He had messy blond hair and was maybe in his fifties, though it was hard to judge his age. He was also, in Ed’s honest opinion, way too fucking tall. 

“Ah, hello”, the man greeted him. “What are you doing here so late? Classes ended a while ago.” 

“I was talking with Aizawa,” Ed answered. He hadn’t done anything wrong, right? Aizawa had ordered him here. 

A look of surprise flashed on the man’s face. “Oh, are you the Amestrian?” he asked. Well, fuck. 

“How do you know?” 

“You have a very interesting accent. Eric, was it?” 

“Elric.” 

The man smiled at him. “Nice to meet you, Elric. I look forward to seeing you in my classes.” 

“You are a teacher?” 

The man looked at him, confused for a moment, before he said “Oh, right, you probably don’t recognize me. Sorry, I’m so used to being recognized I forgot to introduce myself!” he laughed lightly. 

“I’m All Might.” 

Ed’s thoughts came to a halt as what the man had said sunk in. All Might? As in the greatest hero of the world? Ed had seen pictures, of course he had. Wasn’t All Might supposed to be like Armstrong levels of buff muscle? What the f- 

Oh, right. The retirement thing. He’d heard of that, too, it was important he knew what was happening in the country he was going to, but... All Might was looking at him. He should probably answer. 

“You... are more tall than I knew,” Ed managed to say. All Might looked clearly taken aback by the answer, but then he started laughing. 

“Well, that’s a new reaction!” 

It was a bit hard for Ed to believe this man could actually be All Might. Every time Ed had heard about him, it had always been praise about how All Might was the strongest person in the world, how he never lost a fight, how he could punch his way through a thick stone wall and not flinch. After listening to Al geek over him, his mental image of All Might was very different from the man before him. 

And speaking of Al... 

“Can I get your authograph?” 

“Of course!” All Might exclaimed. “Although I am going to teach you, so that might be a little pointless.” 

Ed shook his head. “Not for me”, he explained. “My brother likes you.” 

“Oh, really?” All Might smiled. “Well, in return you could help me carry these boxes to the dorms. Does that sound like a fair deal?” 

There was no way Ed could refuse. Al would be disappointed if he didn’t get a few autographs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edward, after learning he's going to Japan: so yeah I'm gonna start by learning a few basic phrases so I can actually communicate with people there  
> Alphonse, still probably in a hospital bed: is one of those phrases "can I have your autograph?"  
> Ed: ?????  
> Al: because if you come back without getting me an autograph from every hero you talk to _I will end you_.  
> -  
> Me, thinking about the worldbuilding in this a bit too much: oh yeah. It's all coming together.  
> Me, remembering one of my favourite characters in FMA lives in a country other than Amestris: oh no. It's all falling apart.

**Author's Note:**

> I made a [tumblr ](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hugmepwease), fandom blog for this, feel free to follow!


End file.
